Powerful Earthquake Hits Solomon Islands

Published 1:16 pm, Monday, April 25, 2016

A powerful earthquake hit the Solomon Islands Monday, causing residents to flee homes and buildings. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu issued an alert for a tsunami, or giant wave, for low-lying nations across the Pacific but later withdrew the warning.

The National Disaster Management Office in the Solomon Islands had no immediate reports of injuries as a result of the 7.2-magnitude quake, which hit between the impoverished nation's South Malaita and Makira regions, spokesman Martin Karan said.

The earthquake was centered about 120 miles east-northeast of the island of Bougainville at a depth of 20 miles beneath the earth's surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Charles Stennett, a reporter with the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, said staff in the group's office in the capital, Honiara, felt the quake and left the building but he said there were no reports of damage in the capital.

"We all got out of the studios quickly," he said by telephone.

Stennett said he had been in telephone contact with people on Makira who reported the sea rising but then falling again _ suggesting there had not been a major tsunami.

The quake came just weeks after two islands in the Solomon chain were devastated by a powerful cyclone. Nobody was seriously hurt in the storm.

Earthquakes hit the Pacific nation regularly but rarely cause major damage because many homes there are mostly built from traditional materials like wood and palm fronds.